Shanghai police criminally detained citizen journalist and activist Zhang Zhan on May 15, 2020, on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” She had been reporting from Wuhan since February about the coronavirus pandemic.
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Liaocheng City police seized poet Lu Yang on May 1. For the next two weeks, police subjected him to forced disappearance. On May 13, police notified his family that Lu Yang had been criminally detained on suspicion of “inciting subversion” for comments made online.
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Shanghai police seized lawyer and former professor Zhang Xuezhong from his home in the early morning of May 11. Two days prior to being detained, Zhang had written an open letter to all the delegates of the National People’s Congress.
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By Frances Eve | The Chinese government has treated Huang Qi and Pu Wenqing with utter disregard for their human rights and human dignity. It should take a first step to right the wrong by granting this dying woman her wish and let her see her son.
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Chinese police persecuted two HRDs for their online speech. Hunan activist Liu Yanli received a four-year prison sentence on April 22 and former prisoner of conscience Xie Wenfei was criminally detained on April 29.
Read more![[Briefing] COVID-19 Arrests & Victims Threatened for Seeking Compensation; Lawyer Punished](https://www.nchrd.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/56F40CD5-DF79-4295-9409-45C7FAF3BF48-336x300.jpg)
Crackdown on free expression tied to COVID-19 continues as retired professor arrested for criticising CCP and three young volunteers detained for documenting censored news. Victims and families threatened for seeking compensation over government failures in handling the virus. Lawyer punished for representing another rights lawyer.
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Chinese authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Chen Jieren and his family members and associates, who have been prosecuted over Chen’s exercise of his right to free expression. A Hunan court handed Chen a 15-year prison sentence on April 30 in apparent punishment for his political speech.
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Chinese police intimidated and harassed potential plaintiffs in litigation against Wuhan and Hubei governments for failure to release vital information about the novel coronavirus in a timely manner, which resulted in deaths and damages.
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Beijing police formally arrested retired professor Chen Zhaozhi on April 14 for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” over his online speech about the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Three young volunteers of “Terminus2049” Github website documenting censored news and information about COVID-19, Chen Mei (陈玫), Cai Wei (蔡伟), and Cai’s girlfriend Xiao Tang (小唐) went missing on April 19, 2020 and later confirmed detained by Beijing police, according to their family, friends and employers.
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The Chengdu City Lawyers’ Association, a state-run agency, handed out a “professional reprimand” to discipline human rights lawyer Lu Siwei (卢思位) on April 24, 2020.
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Twitter Becomes Chinese Government’s Double Weapon: Punishing Dissent and Propagating Disinformation
May 11, 2020 Comments Off on Twitter Becomes Chinese Government’s Double Weapon: Punishing Dissent and Propagating DisinformationBy Frances Eve | Former journalist Zhang Jialong faces trial on May 13. He has been charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” for sending fewer than 200 tweets. Meanwhile, the Chinese government freely uses Twitter for its propaganda and disinformation.
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